Number XV Axel's Story
by A Rozen Dream
Summary: -this is Axel's side of the story- there is a new organization memeber but there is something familiar about her, why is she there? where did she come from? these are things Axel will answer. Story about my OC and sorry if anyone seems OOC, i tried
1. The Begining

"Hey Saïx, what's going on?" I asked walking into the mission room "don't see you leave very often"

"Not that it is any of your business but there have been whispers of another nobody"

"What, another like us?"

"We shall see"

"Why is he sending you?" I asked sitting in a chair

"Because, she has appeared in our old home" he said simply before leaving

"Our old home" I huffed crossing my arms "wait... she?"

"Axel, Xemnas has called a meeting" Luxord said walking into the room "go tell the others"

"Why do I got to?"

"Because I said so"

"And since when you my boss?"

He smirked at me before leaving in a portal, I sighed and stood up then left to tell the others, everyone already knew about it, everyone but Roxas and Xion. I found them walking together to the mission room, I stood in my place and called out to them

"Oh, good morning" Roxas said with a smile

"Hey you two, meeting" I called out

They looked at each other before walking towards me then we all went to the meeting room together.

"Do you know what it's about?" Roxas asked me from my left side

"Dunno, got something to do with a nobody I think"

"A nobody?" Xion asked from my other side

"Yeah, found a new one"

We entered the meeting room and took our appointed seats, no sooner than we did a portal opened at the bottom and Saïx walked through. He made it to his seat before the new nobody walked... well fell into the room. There were a few mutters and huffs from around the room but everyone was silent when Xemnas started talking.

"This is number XV, the newest member in our battle"

"_Great another kid"_ I thought rolling my eyes

"Number XIV, you will take her to get changed then bring her to the mission room"

Xion jumped of her chair then walked past the new kid, I couldn't help but laugh a little inside watching her trying to run after Xion but at least it was better than the entrance.

"Everyone, you have your missions" Xemnas said before vanishing

Slowly everyone started to vanish one by one until it was only Roxas and I remaining.

"Someone new?"

"Looks that way" I sighed jumping from my chair

Roxas jumped down to and together we made our way to the mission room.

"She looked confused"

"Yeah like you were any better when you first arrived, zombie"

"Maybe we could help her fit in, like you did for Xion and me"

"Like I want another kid around" I huffed crossing my arms "hey don't you have a mission to go to or something?"

"Yeah, I got partnered up with Demyx to eliminate a heartless in the desert, what about you?"

"I don't have a mission yet. So Demyx huh?"

Roxas was about to say something when none other than Demyx came walking up to us.

"Come on, I don't want to waste all day on this, I have some snoozing to catch up on"

"You better go"

"I'll see you later?"

"Sure"

Roxas left with Demyx and I took my time walking to the mission room, I was in no rush to get given work. I made it to the mission room and walked in with closed eyes and my hands behind my head.

"So Saïx what's my mission for today?"

"Axel, just the person I need, your mission is to train our newest member"

I opened my eyes and looked around the room; it was completely empty so there was no chance to pass her off on someone else.

"What! You're sticking me with another brat?" I protested

"Take her to Twilight Town and eliminate the heartless there"

"Fine" I grumbled "come on kid, your with me"

I knew there was no point in arguing with Saïx, once his mind was made up, that was it. I opened a portal and walked through; once I was on the other side I turned around to wait only to see her fall over.

"Sticking me with the helpless brat" I muttered looking down at her

She was more helpless then Roxas and Xion ever were, with a sigh I turned away from here and started to walk away.

"Well then come on, let's go find some heartless" I called out to her

I heard her get up and fall into step behind me. While we were walking around I hadn't noticed a single heartless and I kept getting the feeling that someone, or more likely the new kid, was staring at me. I fought the urge to yell at her and continued to walk around until we came to the station where I saw a single heartless.

"Here's one" I said with a sigh "I tell ya, when Saïx sent us here I thought there would be more heartless but I guess this is good for your first time, well then don't just stand there go kill it"

I pushed her forward a little happy to be rid of those watching eyes then turned around and left, it was only one heartless so she would be fine and I wanted to go get an ice-cream. I left her and walked back to the town centre where I got my sea-salt ice-cream; I sat down on a bench and started to eat it letting my thoughts drift to the new girl.

"_What was her name again?" _I thought looking up at the sky_ "she didn't say did she? Nah I'm sure she didn't"_

When she first fell into the room she was wearing normal looking clothes and I think she had red hair but it was her eyes that striked me as odd, it looked like one was green and the other was blue. I pushed it to the back of my mind and decided I should probably go see if she is still alive, after all Saïx probably wouldn't be too happy if I got her killed on her first day. Once my ice-cream was finished I pushed myself up and walked back to the station.

Once I finally reached the station I saw her sitting on the ground and the heartless was nowhere in sight so I guess she killed it, either way it was gone and my job was done. I walked closer to her and clapped slowly, she turned around to face me and it looked like she was looking up at me but with the hood covering her face I couldn't really tell.

"Well done, you killed your first heartless"

"But i..."

"Let's go back"

I opened up a portal and walked though not bothering to let her finish her sentence, my job was done. Saïx was still standing in that same place he always stood waiting for everyone to report to him; he had such an easy job.

"Done, she killed a heartless mission accomplished and all that, now if you will excuse me I'm leaving" I said walking away before he could give me another mission

I left the room and walked around for a bit, it looked like Roxas and Xion where both still on missions so I decided to head out back to Twilight Town to wait for them. I had been waiting for a while and just when I was about to leave I heard the sound of a portal opening, I turned around expecting to see Roxas or Xion there but no one came out.

"That's strange" I muttered to myself

Just then someone fell out of the portal and landed on the ground, without a second guess I knew it was the new girl, I didn't know anyone else in the organization that could fall out of a portal.

"Hey, you ok?" I asked walking over to her

She looked up at me then suddenly she was throwing herself towards me, grabbing hold of my waist and hugging me.

"Axel!" she mumbled into my coat "Axel I'm so happy you're here, I'm so happy I found you"

"Uhhh..."

I didn't know what to say or what to do, there was a girl hanging from my waist seemingly crying and I had only met her this morning. She held onto me for a little while longer with me just staring down at her wishing that someone would come and help me when she looked up at me. Her hood had fallen of when she threw herself at me and I could see her watery eyes, that was odd enough with us having no hearts but looking at here like that reminded me of something, or someone.

"My name... my name is se..."

Before she had a chance to finish her sentence her grip loosened and her eyes slowly closed. Before she hit the ground I managed to crouch down and grab her, so now I had a girl who I had just met this morning who was only 2 minutes ago somehow crying and now passed out in my arms, at this point I was just waiting for the next weird thing to happen, like maybe a flying pumpkin that would hit me and explode ending this weird day.

I stood up holding her and was about to take her to the castle when another portal opened, I half expected to see a flying pumpkin but instead a panicked Roxas came running through.

"Well at least there isn't an exploding pumpkin" I muttered to myself

"Axel?" Roxas asked looking up at me "what are you talking about exploding pumpkins for?"

I was about to answer him but then he noticed I was holding someone.

"Arexis! But how did she get here? I mean when? Axel what's going on?"

"I was sitting here waiting for Xion and you to show up when she came tumbling down then passed out on me" I explained

"Is she ok?"

"I guess"

"We should take her back"

"I was about to when you came running in"

"Oh..."

I shuffled her weight to one side then opened a portal; I went in first with Roxas following behind me. We entered the mission room and straight away all eyes were on me, or rather the new girl.

"Whoa what happened to her?" Demyx asked from his seat

"That's what you get for sending kids to do a man's job" Luxord scoffed

"Axel, Roxas explain" Saïx ordered

"Yeah sure thing, after I put her down"

Saïx didn't look to happy, I knew he hated waiting but I felt a little bad for the kid, she wasn't in the best shape when she got here. I walked away and headed towards where all the rooms were with Roxas following close behind.

"Let's see... I know one of these were empty..." I muttered more to myself

I ended up finding a room that was only 5 doors down from me, I went in and placed her on the bed that was there then stood up straight looking down at her rubbing the back of my head.

"Do you think she will be ok?"

"Hard to say..." I sighed "what happened anyway?"

"we were about to return when she seemed scared then she started muttering about something being missing that's when she fell through the portal, I had no idea where she ended up so I came here to find you"

"Something missing? Like what? She doesn't own anything does she? Well in any case we should go tell Saïx"

I turned away and was half way out the room when I noticed Roxas wasn't moving at all.

"Hey you coming?"

"I remember when I first came here, everything was so confusing... I feel bad for her, she doesn't know anyone and she has no friends..."

"You feel bad for her? We don't have hearts to feel" I pointed out

"You Xion and I have each other..." he continued to say ignoring me completely

"Fine you stay here, I'll go fill in Saïx" I sighed

"Huh? Are you sure"

"Yeah"

I left the room and headed back towards the mission room, things were getting complicated fast and I didn't like it. So many things were left unanswered, like what was she trying to tell me? How was she crying like that? And another nobody from my world? Well that just didn't seem possible at all. By the time I reached the mission room I had already decided that I would question Saïx about it, surely he knew something, the man always did.

"Hey" I called out walking into the room

"Where is Roxas?"

"He wanted to stay with her, doesn't take two people to report" I shrugged

He frowned at me but I didn't really pay much attention to that, he looked around the room then started to walk towards me, this obviously meant he wanted to talk in private. I followed him until we came to a spot where we were alone, it wasn't exactly a secret place or anything but not many people just wandered around the castle so it was fairly quiet most of the time.

"How did she end up with you" he asked the second we stoped

"Well Roxas and her just finished their mission so they decided to meet up with me for a after mission treat that's when she passed out, guess it was too much on her first day" I explained with a shrug "so what's her story anyway"

"I knew you would ask me that sooner or later, I must say I expected it sooner"

"You going to answer me?"

"You know as much as we do"

"Nobodies don't just show up every day, what makes her so special?"

"We don't know"

"Well I guess we'll just wait and see then" I said going to walk away

"Best not let yourself get to attached to this one, if she proves to have no purpose here then she will be taken care of"

I silently glared at him then continued to leave, I went back to her new room and found Roxas still there and it seemed Xion had joined him.

"Standing there isn't going to make her wake up any faster" I said leaning in the doorway

"What did Saïx say?"

"Everything is fine; you just gotta tell him your mission findings later"

"So she just passed out?" Xion asked facing me

"Yeah, came through the portal then passed out"

Roxas and Xion exchanged worried looks.

"It's been a big day for her, she is probably just tired. Speaking of being tired you two should get some rest for tomorrows missions"

"I'm going to stay here" Xion said

"Yeah me to"

"Why?"

I never could understand half the things those two did.

"Well I don't want her to be alone when she wakes up" Xion explained

"Ok then"

I pushed myself away from the doorway then headed to my own room to sleep. By the next morning she still hadn't awoken, Roxas and Xion were worried about her but still we all had our missions to do. When I returned that evening I heard that she had woken up and that Saïx had already sent her on a mission so I went and talked to Saïx who was wondering around the castle.

"She woke up?" I asked finally finding him

"Yes"

"And you think that she is ready for a mission?"

"Roxas is with her"

"So where did you send them?"

"To eliminate the heartless at Beasts Castle"

"Well I'm going to go lay down"

"No you're not"

"Why not? I finished my mission, I'm done"

"I have another for you, I want you to go and see if there are any new threats"

"What world?"

"All"

"What? That's going to take hours!"

"Then you best leave now"

I muttered a few things that I was happy Saïx didn't hear then set out to inspect the different worlds, I hadn't been gone long when I started to think about Roxas and how they were getting on. I couldn't explain why my thoughts drifted to her so much but it was starting to bug me so after a while of annoying myself I decided to go and check on them that way I could forgot about them and hurry up with my own mission.

I reached the beast's castle just in time to see her falling at a speed that would seriously hurt when she hit the ground. I managed to jump up and grab hold of her then landed gently on the ground, what I didn't understand is why she couldn't land like that or what she was doing so high up to start off with. She opened her eyes and looked up at me, I looked down at her for a few seconds but then I dropped her on the ground.

"Arexis are you ok?" Roxas asked running over

"Yeah I'm fine" she muttered

"What were you doing?" I asked harshly

"I had to save it"

"Save what!" I demanded

"His heart" she answered moving her arms away from her chest

In her hands was a heart, I just back a bit staring at it; I had never really seen a heart before, not just sitting there anyway.

"What are you doing with that thing?"

"It came from the heartless we just killed" Roxas explained

"Didn't anyone explain it to you? You're not meant to catch them" I grumbled rubbing the back of my head

"It's meant to go to kingdom hearts" Roxas smiled at her

"Kingdom hearts?"

"I'm not sure what it is exactly but once its completed we will get hearts of our own"

"Hearts of our own... so I don't have a heart?"

"You're a nobody, of course you don't have a heart" I scoffed

"Oh" she sighed hanging her head "but still... something told me to save this heart... it belongs to someone and they should get it back"

She looked at the heart in her hands then smiled as she hugged it then let it float into the air, the heart floated into the air then shot somewhere into the castle, we all turned and looked towards it but the heart had vanished. I looked at Roxas trying to think of a way to explain this to Saïx when there was a roar coming from inside the castle.

"Is that the beast?" Roxas asked looking back at the castle

"The beast?" she asked

"We should leave" I frowned

"Why?"

"We can't let people see us" Roxas explained

"But why?"

"Roxas take Arexis and RTC" I ordered

"Aren't you coming with us?" she asked looking at me

"No, I'm on my own mission"

"... then why are you here?"

That was a fair enough question but what was I meant to say 'I was worried about you two so I came to check up on you' that wouldn't do at all. So I turned away from them, opened a portal and walked through it.


	2. Chapter 2

I continued my mission with not much to report, I felt like I was on a wild goose chase but still I completed my mission than headed back. By the time I got back it was late and everyone would be asleep but when I walked into the mission room I saw two people, one was walking around the room and the other was sitting on the couch, they both turned and faced me as I came into the room.

"Xion, Roxas? What's up?" I asked with a yawn

"Oh it's you" Roxas sighed

"Gee thanks for that"

"I was hoping you were Arexis" he explained "I haven't seen her since the mission"

"Tried her room?" I asked a little confused

"She isn't here" Xion said lowering her head

"After our mission I went and met up with Xion for ice-cream, Arexis said that she would report to Saïx for me but when I returned she hadn't been here. I wanted to go and look for her but Saïx ordered us not to, he said that if she didn't return on her own by morning then she would be considered a deserter..."

I sighed and rubbed my head, I don't know how I managed to always get put in the middle of these kinds of things.

"Yeah well I'm sure she is fine"

"I shouldn't have left her on her own" Roxas sighed "she doesn't like portals..."

"Look if she isn't back by morning I'll talk to Saïx then we can go find her"

"Really?" they both asked looking up at me

"Yeah sure, now go get some sleep"

They nodded and left the room walking together, those two acted so different compared to the others in the organization. I headed to my own room and laid on my bed, I had the feeling tomorrow was going to be another annoying day. I tried to sleep but I just couldn't, I kept tossing and turning thinking about Arexis. After a while I gave up and went to see if she was back yet but she wasn't so I opened a portal and went to the beast's castle.

It was raining there and made it pretty hard to see in the dark but I figured if it was raining then she was probably taking shelter in the castle. After looking around the whole castle I didn't find her anywhere, that's when I actually got slightly worried about her, she was so helpless I wouldn't put it past her to be lost somewhere or in some kind of trouble.

I headed outside thinking and silently hoping that maybe she was unable to make it to the castle and was somewhere close by. I finally found her in the corner of the courtyard curled up in a ball and soaking wet.

"Hey wake up"

She didn't move so I crouched down to see if she was still alive, I couldn't tell by her heart but she was still breathing so I guessed that meant she was fine after all dead people don't breath.

"Come on wake up already" I said a bit louder nudging her with my foot a bit "hey, are you listening to me?"

She was starting to stir now so I stood up and crossed my arms, her eyes opened and it looked like she was looking around then she stood up and hugged herself.

"Hello?"

"Come on, you're getting soaked, what are you still doing here anyway?"

She turned around and looked up at me looking a little confused.

"Axel? What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here!" I shouted "I'm lookin for you! You never reported to the castle and Roxas was all worried about you, something about you not liking portals so he has Xion and me searching for you! When I would rather be in bed sleeping and not looking for some brat"

"... i-i-I why do you hate me? I have done nothing to you"

"Hate, I have no heart I can't hate"

"Why are you here? You didn't have to look for me Roxas or Xion would have found me eventually or I would have found my own way back and who says I even want to go back!" she shouted

"Stay here then, it doesn't matter to me" I huffed

"Then just go" she sighed

"Don't expect me to help you again"

I turned away from her and started to walk away, I could have created a portal right there but I was hoping she would come to her senses and let me take her back but it didn't look like she was going to so I made a portal and left to my room. I got changed and went to lay down on my bed when I saw a portal opening, I was a bit confused so I stood up ready to either yell at the person or get ordered to do something, I preferred the yelling option.

Out of the portal ran Arexis with her eyes closed, I was slightly relived that she decided to come back but why did she have to appear in my room, all I could think of was if she arrived 1 minute earlier then it would have made things a little awkward.

"What do you think you're doing here?"

I crossed my arms and glared at her, I wasn't exactly angry but I was tired. She opened her eyes and looked around; she seemed just as confused by this as I was.

"I don't know... I went into the portal and I just turned up here" she confessed

"Yeah well get out"

"Wait I want to say something"

"Hurry up then"

"I'm sorry, I shouted at you when you were only trying to help and I'm sorry"

"Your dripping all over my floor, go get changed"

"I don't have anything to change into"

"Well go get something from Xion then"

"... I don't know where her room is"

"You're useless"

She hung her head and started to fiddle with her hands and shuffle her feet, I didn't mean to upset her or anything and the way she looked so helpless I found myself grabbing one of my dry coats and holding it out to her.

"Fine" I moaned "take this then I'll show you to you room"

She looked up at me then at the coat in my hands, it would be too big for her, she was fairly short, not as short as Xion and Roxas but still small compared to me. After a little while she took the coat and smiled up at me.

"Uhhh"

"Oh right" I said quickly turning around looking at a wall

I could have left the room but if someone walked by at this hour and asked why I was outside my own room I wouldn't know what to say to them. I heard her clothes dropping to the floor and I closed my eyes, I didn't like the idea of having a kid changing clothes in my room.

"It's safe"

I turned around and saw her standing there hugging my coat, I was right it was too big for her but at least it was dry. She had let her hair down, it was slightly curly and reached just below her shoulders with her fringe and a little bit of her hair was pink slightly blending in with the red. Looking at her with her hair down like that and that small gentle smile on her face reminded me of someone I knew a long time ago, someone who died a long time ago.

"Well... I'll show you to your room" I said pushing my thoughts away

"Ok"

She bundled up her wet clothes while I looked outside to see if the coast was clear, no one was around and as far as I knew no one was coming so I walked the 5 doors down to her room.

"Wait, what about Roxas and Xion? Aren't they still looking for me?" she asked as I was leaving

_"What? Oh that's right... I told they were looking for her"_

"Oh yeah, you go to sleep, I'll go find them"

"But you..."

"It will be faster than you doing it" I stated "besides you have been in the rain for hours, you should rest"

"Thankyou"

"Whatever" I grumbled walking into a portal

I ended up back in my room and laid down on my bed to sleep, I fell asleep really fast but I passed it off as exhaustion, it had nothing to do with the fact that Arexis was safe now, nothing at all. I hadn't been sleeping for too long when I heard my door opening; I opened my eyes and saw it was still dark out.

_"Who is waking me up now?"_ I thought extremely annoyed

I rolled over and sat up to see who was walking into my room but before I could see them the door closed, I started to think that maybe it was someone getting the wrong room or someone checking up on me for whatever reason so I laid back down rolled over so I wasn't facing the door anymore and started to fall back asleep. I heard movement but before I had a chance to turn around I felt hands wrapping around my waist and pulling me closer to the body that was now lying next to me on my bed.

I jumped up in surprise forcing them to let me go and moved away from my bed. Once my eyes adjusted to the darkness I saw a small figure laying there curled up, I took one look at her face and the large coat and knew it was Arexis. I frowned and moved closer to my bed then stood over her.

"Hey what's the big idea?" I asked her

There was no response so I shook her shoulder a little but as I did she grabbed hold of me, I wasn't expecting this so I fell back on my bed where she wrapped her arms around me again.

"This girl and her damn hugging" I mutter to myself prying her arms away from me

I tried talking to her again but it was no use, she either couldn't hear me or was ignoring me. I sat down on my bed as far away from her as I could, I looked towards her with a sigh, she was fast asleep and I didn't seem to be having any luck in waking her so I moved to the floor.

"First she passes out on me, then she makes me go looking for her, then she takes my clothes and now she has taken her bed, was this girl sent to drive me insane!" I muttered to myself facing away from the bed "what next? Is she going to try and kill me, that would be a lot less painful then all this"

After complaining to myself some more I finally fell asleep and didn't wake until morning when I was being stepped on, it took me a few seconds to remember last night and the fact that Arexis had taken over my bed.

"What the hell" I grumbled "why are you stepping on me"

The feet quickly left my body so I took that chance to turn and look at her and attempt glaring at her but I was still half asleep.

"Axel?"

"No its Santa" I muttered rolling over so my back was no facing her

"Why are you in my room?"

"Guess again Einstein"

"Huh?"

"You don't remember?"

"Remember what?"

"You came into my room last night then got into my bed, it scared the hell out of me" I explained sitting up

"I did? So wait this is your room? Why am I in your room?"

"That's what I wanted to know, I tried asking you but you grabbed hold of me. That's when I moved to the floor"

"I guess I was sleep walking?"

"You think!"

"... I had the strangest dream last night... I think it might have been a memory then I woke up but I went back to sleep in my own bed... I don't remember coming here at all"

"You had a memory?"

"I think so... I don't know it was strange, it was like watching someone else's life but it was so real. I was a kid running away from someone but then this boy tried to help hide me but I was found... I don't know it was weird"

"Did I ask you what it was about?" I grumbled

"I'm sorry"

"You don't have to apologise"

"Ok"

"That wasn't an order" I sighed

This girl took everything way too seriously.

"..."

"Look it wasn't your fault anyway we should get moving, Saïx won't be happy if were late. Here go through that to get back to your room"

I opened up a portal but she seemed to move away from it, I was starting to see what Roxas meant about her having a problem with portals.

"What is your problem with portals?"

"Someone important to me... they told me to stay away from the darkness and stay in the light"

"Yeah well it isn't going to hurt you so get going"

"Do you promise?"

"Huh?"

"That it won't hurt me... do you promise?"

"Yeah sure" I shrugged "just get going already"

After she left I sighed and sat down on my bed, I didn't tell her this but the things she said about her dream they sounded like my own dream. It was a dream from when I was a somebody and a lot younger, I was running around with a person I once knew and we were being chased but we weren't frightened or anything, it was like a game we played and always lost.

"Memories are useless things" I muttered to myself before standing up

Things settled down for the next few days, Arexis was banned from mission and was confined to the castle where some of the other members took time off from missions to train her leaving, Roxas, Xion and I to work double shifts but it wasn't too bad. After a while it was like everything was back to before Arexis showed up and I had all but forgotten all the strange things that happened, I was even starting to think that things would remain like this but like anything the second I thought that things started to go downhill again.

It started out with just a simple conversation, Roxas and I had been paired up for a mission which didn't take too long to complete so we returned to the castle where Arexis was. It wasn't strange to see her here, she often waited around for someone to show up to train her but there was something different about her, she seemed to happy.

"Good afternoon" Roxas smiled

"Oh, good afternoon"

"Arexis hurry up and stop dawdling"

"I have to go; Saïx is letting me go on a mission today"

_"A mission? Where is he sending her? She will get herself killed out there"_

I surprised myself with that thought, why would I care if she got herself killed? But still I didn't understand why Saïx was sending her out again, after all the trouble she has caused him.

"Where are you going?" Roxas asked

"To wonderland, I'm meant to look around some more then report back, I'm really looking forward to it"

"Let me know if you see a white rabbit ok?"

"A white rabbit?"

"I saw one when I first went there but I haven't seen it since"

"I'll keep an eye out for you" she smiled "well I better go"

She waved goodbye then ran through a portal, she didn't seemed bothered by them since that day.

We reported to Saïx then headed to the clock tower to wait for Xion.

"I'm happy for her" Roxas said as we sat on the clock tower

"Huh?"

"For Arexis, she looked happy to be able to go on a mission; I hope everything goes ok for her"

"She will be fine"

_"I was there yesterday and there weren't many heartless"_

"Yeah I guess you're right, I heard that she has gotten really good at magic, she can last against Zexion"

"What's so great about that?"

"Zexion is the best with magic in the organization"

"Hmmm"

"Sorry I'm late" Xion said walking into view

"Oh hello Xion" Roxas smiled facing her

"What have you two been talking about?" she asked sitting down

"Arexis, Saïx let her go on a mission today, was she there when you reported to him?"

"I didn't see her but she might have been in her room"

"I wonder how her mission went"

I zoned out as Xion and Roxas talked about Arexis, after a while it started to get late so we all headed back. I thought about looking into Arexis's room but if she was in there I didn't really have any explanation for why I would be there. I went into my room and sat down on my bed with a sigh, it was starting to bug me how much I thought about Arexis, while she was in the castle I didn't really think about her at all and I never really paid attention to her if we crossed paths but now that I knew she was on a mission I didn't like that at all.

That night I couldn't sleep, something was nagging at me but I couldn't figure out what it was. After tossing and turning for ages I gave up and decided to take a walk around the castle, maybe that would make me sleepy. I had been walking around for a while and was pretty sleepy now so I headed back to my room to sleep; I was lying down and almost asleep when I thought I heard something outside. Ever since the night Arexis slept walked into my room I have made a habit of getting up when I hear noises outside my door so I got up and went to check it out.

By the time I reached my door and pulled it open I saw Arexis leaving her room and walking towards the mission room, I was curious to what she was doing awake at this hour so I followed after her. I saw her looking around the room then sitting down with a sigh.

"Well now what do I do?"

She laid down on the couch and started to throw fire balls into the air, I had never seen her use magic before and going by her normal clumsy self I half expected her to light the couch on fire or burn herself but she used wind magic to put out the fire before it landed on her.

_"I guess Roxas was right after all"_ I thought to myself surprised

She wasn't paying any attention to things around her so I walked into the room and went behind the couch making sure to be far enough away so I wouldn't get burnt by her magic.

"What are you doing?"

She jumped a bit then sat up and looked around the room, I couldn't help but smirk at the fact she had no idea I was here.

"Behind you" I said crossing my arms

She turned her head slowly until she was facing me then slowly her eyes moved upward until she could see my face, she sighed then smiled up at me.

"What does it look like I'm doing?"

"Like your messing around, Saïx wouldn't like that now get to bed"

"You can't tell me what to do" she said turning back around folding her arms

"No but Saïx can, maybe I should go wake him"

She didn't say anything so I started to walk towards the hallway; I wasn't really going to tell Saïx, he would be angrier at me then at her. While I was walking I felt a gust of wind and I was sent flying into the air, I spun around so my feet were facing the ground and landed quietly then turned to face Arexis with a glare.

"What was that for?"

"I was helping you"

"Helping me?"

"If you go waking up Saïx I'm sure me sitting here will be the last thing on his mind" she explained "so why are you up anyway? I thought everyone was sleeping"

"I heard someone"

"But I went nowhere near your room" she pointed out

"I'm a light sleeper"

"Oh well I'm sorry then, it's just me so you can go back to sleep"

I was wide awake now so I walked towards her then sat down on the chair next to the couch and laid down putting my feet on the table, things were quiet, I expected her to talk or something but she seemed to be thinking about something.

"Can I ask you something?" she asked finally breaking the silence

"If you have to"

"Have you ever heard of a place called Atlantica?"

"Nope"

"Oh..."

"Why?"

"I overheard Zexion talking about it today"

"No place I ever heard of"

"Do you remember your real name?"

"Axel is my real name"

"No I mean the one you had before... when you weren't a heartless"

"Yeah sure I do but that's not me"

"Oh..."

I had heard from Saïx that she didn't have any memory of her past, just like Roxas and Xion, it seemed nobodies now days couldn't remember things from their life's which I considered a blessing.

"You don't remember anything do you?"

"Not really... I remember some things, like I remember the organization... well at least the organization uniform"

"So we have been to your world?"

"I guess..." I shrugged "I don't know, it doesn't make much sense to me... I think I knew someone in the organization a long time ago"

"Then why were you so afraid of the portals then?"

"They taught me to be... I remember them saying 'never go into this' I just wish I knew who said it to me"

"I don't know anyone in the organization that would say that" I grumbled

"I guess not..."


	3. Chapter 3

Time went on and Arexis started to look extremely sleepy, she started to fall asleep on the chair so I got and walked over to her with the intention of waking her. I reached out my arm ready to shake her shoulder but just the way she was sleeping made me stop. She looked so small and innocent; like she was made of glass so with a sigh I bent down, picked her up then carried her bridle style. She moaned a bit as I started to move but I just ignored it, I wanted to put her in her room and be asleep in my own before she woke up and asked me what I was doing.

While I was carrying her she looked like she was dead but I could still see her body moving as she breathed, seeing her like this I couldn't help but think how much I wanted to protect her from everything that happens here. When she was awake she was stubborn, strong willed and extremely proud, she wouldn't admit to needing help ever so all I could do is watch from the sidelines, if I tried to help her I doubt it would be welcome, hasn't been so far. I froze for a split second as she started to move her arms around my neck but she never woke up so I continued on.

Looking at her sleeping form as she tightened her grip around me and pulled herself closer to my body I couldn't help but wonder if maybe this was who she really was, just a scared girl hoping that someone would protect her. I reached her room and shuffled her weight around so I could reach out and open the door, once the door was open I held her properly again and walked towards her bed. Once I reached her bed I laid her gently down and went to walk away but she was still holding onto me.

"Not this again" I grumbled

After struggling for a little while I managed to pry her arms away from my neck but before I had the chance to turn and leave she wrapped her arms around my waist and pulled. I wasn't expecting this so I fell down on her bed nearly hitting her but I managed to stop that from happening.

"Get off me already" I hissed trying to pull away

Her face started to frown and her grip got even tighter nearly squishing me, she wasn't going to let me go in a hurry. I struggled for a while trying to break free, I even thought about waking her up but I didn't want to, she looked so peaceful... well other than that frown. After a while I felt her grip loosening, I managed to pull her arms away with ease and just as I went to place them on her bed she started to mutter.

"Lea..."

"What did you say?" I asked completely shocked

She didn't say anything more and her body fell limp.

"Hey, no don't sleep on me now, what did you say? How do you know that name?" I asked shaking her hands a little

It was hopeless, she wasn't waking up. Once I realised this I got up and went back to my own room where I spent half the night walking in circles.

"There are heaps of different worlds out there, it's possible she knows another guy called Lea" I reasoned with myself "but she was found on my world... that's it, tomorrow I'm getting answers"

The next morning I woke up early and headed to find Saïx, he was in the meeting room talking with Xemnas which worked good for me, if Saïx really didn't know then he would. I opened a portal to my seat then waited for one of them to face me.

"Axel what brings you here?" Xemnas asked

"I want to know everything you know about No. XV"

"No. XV?" Xemnas asked pretending to be surprised "now why would you want to know about her for?"

"Why did you let her join the organization? She can't wield the key blade and look how long it took her to be useful so why is she here?"

"Well I guess we can tell you" Xemnas smiled

That smiled always bothered me; it normally meant I wasn't going to like the answer.

"She has had contact with the intruder"

"She has?"

"We don't know what they are planning but when she became a nobody we took that chance to find out everything she knows but unfortunately she has no memory"

"So why is she still around then?" I asked leaning forward a little

"Surely even you can figure that one out" Saïx said with a scowl

"You want her to lead you right to him" I guessed "but what makes you think she will?"

"oh she will, one way or another, he wouldn't go leaving his partner all alone so sometime soon he will make contact with her and when he does... well you didn't think we were training her for heartless now did you?" Saïx explained with a smirk

"You're expecting her to be able to take him out!" I shouted

"Either she takes him out or he kills her or maybe by some miracle she takes him out, either way we lose nothing and only have everything to gain" Xemnas explained

"I warned you not to get attached to her"

"If you will excuse me, I have work to do"

"Actually you don't, everyone is having a day off"

The way Xemnas said that made me instantly worried so I portled away and went to Arexis's room but she wasn't there, I looked around the castle but I couldn't find her anywhere and I knew she couldn't create her own portals. I had looked around everywhere in the castle when I made my way back to her room, I was going to just walk in but I heard a small thump sound then some talking that I couldn't make out. I fought the urge to barge in there to yell at her and whoever she was talking to and decided to knock on the door instead.

"Who is it?" came her voice clear as a bell

"Just let me in" I grumbled

"Axel?" she asked as the door opened

The door was only open a little ways but I barged in anyway, at least I did knock first though.

"Please just come right in" she muttered

Seeing that no one else was here I felt al little relived but that didn't make me feel any better about where she could have been all this time.

"Close the door" I snapped

I heard the door close then her footsteps walking closer to me.

"Where have you been?"

"Huh?"

"You heard me" I shouted facing her "where did you go?"

"I haven't been anywhere"

She was sitting on the bed with that confused innocent look of hers but I wasn't falling for that.

"Don't you lie to me, where did you go just now?"

"Now? Oh you mean before... wait how did you know I left?"

"I was looking for you"

"Why?"

"Tell me where you went; I know you can't open your own portals"

"... well I don't know"

"What?"

"I mean the portal just appeared and when I went through I was in a place I had never been before"

"You're telling me that a portal just opened up and you walked through with no idea where it was going or who was behind it?"

"Well... yeah I guess so" she smiled

_"Does she think this is a joke?"_

"Who was it?"

"Who was what?"

"Who opened the portal!"

"Oh... well that's just it... I don't know" she sighed playing with her hair

"What did they say to you?"

"Nothing really"

"You're hiding something"

"And you're not? Everyone here is hiding something!" she snapped at me

I couldn't say she was wrong, everyone here had secrets but this was more important than that and I couldn't tell her about the organizations plans for her, I wouldn't even know where to begin. Her face suddenly changed and she looked away from me with a sigh.

"He knew me"

"What?"

"The person... well they guy that opened the portal he knew me"

"Who was he?"

"I don't know, honestly I don't but he said that last time we met and warned me not to join the organization but I don't remember even meeting him!"

"How come he could work the portals?"

I knew who it was before I even asked it but a part of me was hoping it was someone else, anyone else.

"Well... he was dressed like us"

"The intruder..." I muttered

She had just confirmed my fears.

"What was that?"

_"If Saïx and Xemnas find out... I won't let them"_

"Don't tell anyone else about this and don't EVER go into unknown portals again"

"Why?"

I ignored her and went to leave but before I knew it she was grabbing hold of my sleeve.

"Let go of me" I grumbled shaking my arm

"Axel, tell me what's going on... who was he? And why would he tell me not to join the organization?"

I looked down at her and decided that maybe it was ok to tell her; if I told her that he was a bad person then maybe she would listen to me and never go near him again.

"There has been someone going around disguised as one of us but he is far from it, he has been trying to stop us from collecting hearts"

"Is he a nobody? Like us?"

"No one knows"

Looking down at her I wished I had more answer for hers, I know what it's like for Roxas and Xion not having any memories but to her it seemed worse. She let go of my sleeve and I was going to leave but I noticed she didn't look so good, all the colour from her cheeks were gone and she looked unsteady.

"Hey are you ok?"

She didn't answer me; it was painful to watch her staggering towards her bed.

"Arexis? Come on your starting to worry me"

There was still no answer from her and she looked like she was going to fall over any second now, I reached her just in time to stop her head from hitting the ground and held her in my arms.

"Arexis, wake up, come on don't do this now"

She wasn't waking up so I lifted her and placed her down on her bed, it seemed to be the only thing I did when I was around her. I was beside myself, I had no idea what to do, she seemed fine but then she just passed out, that's when I thought of the intruder.

_"If he has done something to her, I will kill him myself"_

By this point I didn't care that I wasn't acting like myself I just wanted her to be ok, I left her there and walked out of her room, I refused to believe that yelling at her would be the last thing I ever said to her, not again. That night I didn't get much sleep, I had too many things on my mind, I realised that the intruder couldn't have really don't this to her, after all she was fine up until i started to tell her things. By this point I started to blame myself, maybe if I hadn't told her she wouldn't have passed out after all every time Roxas and Xion passed out it was mainly because they had too many things on their mind.

After a while I did manage to fall asleep and the next morning I went to see if she had woken but she was still the same.

_"Saïx will have a fit if he finds out she has passed out..."_ I thought rubbing the back of my head

After a bit I had no choice but to leave, Saïx would be wondering where the both of us were, I walked into the mission room and managed to catch Roxas just before he left.

"Good luck today" I called out to him

"Axel good morning" Roxas chirped as he saw me "where is Arexis?"

"Yes I would like to know that to" Saïx said walking towards us

"She wasn't feeling well so she is going to take the day of"

"No she won't" Saïx said coldly "Roxas go fetch her at once"

Roxas looked up at me unsure of what he should do; I placed my hand on his head then ruffled his hair.

"No need to do that"

"I have important missions that need to be done"

"Then I'll do them"

"You have your own missions to do"

"I can do both"

"You're doing all this for some girl you hardly know?" he scoffed with a small smirk "or perhaps she reminds you of someone?"

I was taken aback by that, how could Saïx possibly know that.

"What I do is none of your business"

"I remember a time it was"

"That was before you left her" I hissed at him

Things remained the same, we were both staring the other down it wasn't until more people started to enter the room that we turned away from each other. He started handing out the missions, everyone seemed to have easy ones today and they looked surprised about it, I didn't really think too much of it until I got given all the hard or annoying ones.

"Unless it's too much for you" he smirked at me

"Heh, I'll be done in no time"

I walked off into a portal to get a start on my missions; I knew these would take me all day. Whenever I had a few spare minutes I took the chance to look around for any signs of the intruder but I didn't find any. It was late by the time I managed to get back to the castle, I knew what Saïx was trying to do and there was no way I was losing to him. I walked down the hall to my room but I made sure to stop at Arexis's room, there was still no change in her.

For the next 7 or 8 days I kept making excuses for her and continued to do both our missions and look for the intruder but I never found any clues. I was tired from working double shifts and from searching so I decided to take a break and went to the clock tower where Xion and Roxas where.

"Axel?" they both seemed surprised

"Hey guys"

"Haven't seen you around for a while, Saïx has you working really hard" Roxas pointed out

"Yeah but what can you do?"

"Do you think Arexis will ever wake up?" Xion asked

"Sure she will"

"But you can't keep working like this"

"I'm fine, so how about you two? How have you been?"

We talked for a while longer before we all headed back to the castle, I went and visited Arexis like I had every night and every morning before but she was still the same.

"Come on you have to wake up soon" I whispered standing over her "I don't know how long I can keep Saïx from you"

Nothing happened, nothing ever happened so I left her room and went to my own to sleep, the next morning I woke up early and made my way to her room like I did every other morning but this time as I reached out to open her door it opened. Standing before me was Arexis, I couldn't say anything I was frozen in place, I felt like I was dreaming.

"Axel?"

"You're awake" I sighed

"Yeah... how long was I out?"

"Around 10 days"

"That long?... it only felt like hours. Well no matter, I guess I have a lot of work to catch up on"

"You should rest until your better"

"I am better" she frowned

She stepped out of her room closing the door behind her then walked past me, I wanted to stop her but I just couldn't find it in myself to move. After a while of being frozen I shook my head and headed to the mission room where I guess she would be going. I made it there just in time to see her and Saïx talking, I didn't trust Saïx, who knows what kind of mission he would give her so I snuck up close and listened in on their conversation.

"There have been heartless gathering in Twilight Town, I want you to take them out"

_"He can't expect her to take out all of them, there are hundreds of them, Roxas and Xion haven't even been able to get rid of them all"_

"She just woke up Saïx, maybe something a bit easier" I said walking up behind her

"She has caused us enough trouble now to make up for it she will have to prove herself"

"Well I'll go with her then, in case something happens"

"Very well, but Axel she is the one that has to take out the heartless"

"Yeah I hear ya, come on then kid"

_"At least I can stop her from getting killed"_ I thought as I walked through a portal


	4. Chapter 4

I walked out of the portal and ended up at the station surrounded by heartless, I smirked at them and called forward my chakrams then wiped them out. I got rid of my weapons and started to walk away when I heard a sound behind me, I turned around and saw more heartless and Arexis walking out of the portal. She looked surprised and slightly scared, I opened a portal and went to walk through after all if I could take out the heartless so could she, they were only weak but just when I was about to walk through it I heard a noise behind me. I turned around and saw her falling to her hands and knees.

The heartless were starting to pile on top of her but they weren't attacking, they were just gathering. I saw her say something but I couldn't hear her with all the heartless covering her, her head lowered and I was about to call forward my chakrams and help her when she started to stand. Even though the heartless quickly pushed her down again she kept trying to stand never taking her eyes off me but the way she looked at me it was like she was looking through me, to someone else.

While I watched her struggling there was a bright flash and I wasn't in Twilight Town anymore, I was in my home world but before I had a chance to think anything there was another flash and I was back.

"It's the same" I realised looking back out at Arexis

When I became a nobody my world was overtaken by heartless so Saïx and I went to leave but before I walked through the portal I looked out at the sea of heartless and saw a single girl wearing a beautiful white dress standing out from all the heartless. I remember wondering how she got there and why she didn't run but all she did was stare at me, I wanted to go back and help her but Saïx pulled me through the portal. I pushed the memory from my mind after all this was different, that girl had no way to defend herself but Arexis did and this time I would be able to help if she needed it.

I looked through the heartless and found her in time to see her shout something but I couldn't quite hear the words then next thing I knew wind and fire started to gather around her then the heartless all vanished. I had to admit that I was impressed but she still didn't seem like the Arexis I knew, her eyes showed signs of hurt and her body seemed weak and frail but that didn't stop her from staggering towards me. First it started out as a slow unsteady walk but then as she got closer her face changed to panic and she ran towards me grabbing hold of my coat as she fell to her knees.

"Whoa..." I said quietly "I heard you were good with magic but I never did listen"

I didn't know what else to say, I wanted to ask if she was ok, I wanted to make sure she was ok but I never was good at saying things like that. I let her hold onto my coat while she caught her breath and looked around the station, I expected more heartless to show up, that's what's been happening here for the past few days, you kill them and twice as many show up but no more came. I shrugged it off and looked down at Arexis, she didn't look so good.

"Hey you ok down there? Haven't passed out again have you"

"No, I'm ok" she smiled "tell me something... You're past... how much do you really remember?"

"Where'd that come from and do you want to let go of me already?"

"Do you remember your home, your family? You're friends?"

"Well sure I do but they aren't important anymore, I don't have the heart to miss them"

"There are probably people looking for you! Worrying about you!"

"If you must know my world was destroyed and only us strong ones survived" I said shaking my sleeve

"So you don't even remember me?" she asked looking up at me

"What are you talking about?"

"No-nothing, let's get back, our mission here is done" she said pulling away from me

I didn't do anything, I just stood there, I didn't know what to do. I wanted to get answers but looking at her now I didn't think I would have much chance at that so I just decided to stand there.

"Well hurry up and make a portal, I want to go back" she stated not looking at me

I hadn't noticed it but at some time during the commotion the portal had closed, I opened up another portal but didn't walk towards it. She turned around after waiting for a bit, she looked a little surprised that I was still standing there but she didn't say anything, not a single word before walking into the darkness.

Once she left I closed the portal, I wasn't going back just yet, I headed up to the top of the clock tower and looked down at the small town. I heard someone walking up behind me but I didn't bother to turn around or greet them, I was too lost in my own thoughts.

"Are you ok?" Roxas asked from behind me

"What did she mean?" I muttered to myself

"... This might not be the time but I was wondering... What were you and Saïx talking about the other day?"

I snapped out of it and turned to face him with a grin.

"You're going to have to be a bit more specific then that" I laughed

"The day Arexis got sick, when you said 'that was before you left her'"

"Oh then" I sighed turning away from him "it's nothing important, just something from the past"

"I would like to hear about it... I don't have any memories from my past and I would like to hear about yours"

"Trust me kid, mine are nothing special"

He sighed and sat down, I don't know if it was because of that pathetic look on his face or the fact that some part of me did want to talk but whatever it was I ended up sitting down next to him and started to tell him.

"There was this girl Saïx and I knew when we were somebodies, we were good friends but I don't think Saïx liked her much but nothing new there he didn't like anyone really. When the heartless attacked I wanted to go looking for her but Saïx said it was pointless, that she would already be dead"

"Was she... I mean did the heartless get her?"

"I don't know, I went back later and all the heartless were gone and only a handful of people were still alive, I asked around about her but no one had even heard of her. All they said was 'an angle saved them' whatever that means" I shrugged "but maybe if he didn't take me away I could have found her before it was too late"

"And Arexis reminds you of her?"

"Well they have the same kind of hair, her hair was red with pink to oh and the eyes are the same to but the personalities are nothing alike" I frowned "expect for maybe when she is asleep... or not talking... or not being her normal stubborn self"

"What was her name? The girl you used to know... Maybe she managed to escape somewhere else and is still alive somewhere"

"I doubt that, I did look around you know and her name... It was Seria"

The second those words escaped my lips I pieced everything together, It was a good 5 years or so ago so she would be around 19 20 now.

"How old do you think Arexis is?"

"I don't know, she doesn't look that old but maybe around 18?"

_"Around the same age Seria would be now..."_

Their hair was also the same and I hadn't met anyone else with hair like hers and then the eyes, the eyes were exact and how many people had eyes like hers then there is the name. That day Arexis found me on the clock tower, she started to say a name, a name that sounded a lot like Seria and last of all, she called me Lea, hardly anyone knows me by that name.

"But how?" I muttered to myself

"Is everything ok?"

"Ahh yeah, I have to go"

I opened a portal on top of me and left, I went to the only place I knew of where I could be alone and think, the beach. I started to pace up and down the shore trying to think of answers, I was too busy with my own thoughts that I didn't even hear when another person showed up.

"Lost something?"

I looked up and saw someone wearing the organization uniform but they had their hood on so it was covering their face.

"That depends"

"On?"

"Who you are"

I heard a small laugh then they reached up and pulled away their hood showing a boy with silver hair and a black blindfold covering their eyes.

"You" I hissed calling forward my chakrams

"I'm not here for a fight"

"Then why are you here?"

"I don't need a reason to be here, why are you here?"

I was going to attack him but with the memories of everything that has happened to Arexis still fresh in my mind I remembered her saying that he knew her.

"I want answers"

"Answers?"

"I know you talked to Arexis and I want to know everything you two talked about"

"Who?"

"Seria"

I felt instantly stupid for saying the name but that quickly vanished as he started talking.

"Don't tell me you're the one that she has been searching for?"

"Tell me everything you know about her now"

"Why would I want to help anyone in the organization?"

"Because if you tell me then maybe I can help her leave the organization, that's what you wanted her to do right?"

"Why don't you just ask her?"

"Because you're here now, how do you know her?"

"We met a while ago, she was lost and I went to help her but she tried attacking me because she thought I was in the organization. Once I told her otherwise she wanted to join me but her light was to bright that nothing would be able to cover it, that's when she got the idea of becoming a nobody, that's all I know" he said opening a portal "I sure hope you were worth her losing her heart over"

And just like that he was gone. After that I left back to the organization, I knew now that Arexis was Seria so I went to find her, to get answers. Once I returned to the organization I found out that Saïx had sent her on two more missions so I waited for her to return.

_"He said she was searching for someone... could it have been me? Did she give up her heart to find me?"_ I thought lowering my head on my hands staring at my lap

"I'm sure she will be back soon"

I lifted my head and looked towards where the voice came from; walking into the room was Xion with a small smile on her face, a smile that didn't seem too confident in what she just said.

"I don't know what you're talking about" I huffed slouching into the chair

"I know your waiting for Arexis; you don't have to lie to me"

_"Am I that obvious?"_ I wondered as she smiled at me

"She is just so hopeless" I frowned turning my head away

"I talked to her today; she said she is starting to remember things from her past"

"Yeah? So what"

"Is there such thing as a world of light?" she asked walking closer

"Of course not"

"Isn't it possible?"

"As long as people have darkness in their hearts their world will be connected to the darkness"

"What about a princess of light?"

"Where did you hear that from?"

"... It just came to me, what is a princess of light?"

I sighed and sat up straight then turned and faced Xion" they are people who have no darkness in their hearts"

"So if they can have no darkness in their hearts why can't a world?"

"Because there is always darkness hidden in people's hearts"

"That can't be true, if it was then there wouldn't be princesses of light"

"Yeah but there are only 7 princesses of light, not a whole world full of them, they are rare and aren't born every day, where is all this coming from anyway?"

"When I was talking to Arexis... she said she was born in a world of light"

"A world of light?"

_"Our world was far from being a world of light"_

"Yeah, she also said that's why she cant create her own portals, because she is made of light... at least I think that's what she said... I'm not sure, I don't remember exactly"

"Made of light? No one can be made of light, for starters people aren't made their born and for seconds..."

I stopped talking as I thought of something.

_"Those guards that were always chasing her... they didn't want her out in the world... Did someone actually create a being of light? If someone created darkness then why couldn't someone create light"_ I thought to myself

"Hey you ok?"

_"Born in a world of light... does that mean she was from a different world if that's true then she didn't die because she was never there; she was on a different world?"_

"Yeah I'm fine, I'm going to go to bed" I said standing

I walked past Xion and towards my room, I laid down on my bed thinking back to my past hoping that something there would help me figure all this out but after many hours of thinking I came up with only one answer, Saïx.

It was late now so I decided to see if Arexis made it back ok but her bed was still empty and she wasn't anywhere I could see in the castle.

_"Guess I'm going to have to bring her back again"_ I thought to myself with a laugh, it seemed I was always bringing people back here _"where is she anyway?"_

I left my room and went up the hallway and around the corner then walked up to the last door at the end of the hallway. I didn't knock on the door; I didn't want to wake the others so I just let myself in. I walked into Demyx's room; the last person other than Saïx that I know was with Arexis. I walked up to his bed and looked down at him, I had to hold back a laugh as I saw him lying there hugging his sitar.

"Hey wake up"

He muttered in his sleep and rolled over away from me, I didn't have time for this and considering it was only Demyx I reached out and pushed him onto the floor. There was a crash sound but Demyx still didn't wake up, I should have guessed as much after all he managed to sleep through almost everything that happens here. I walked over the other side of the bed and kicked his foot but he just curled up into a ball still holding his sitar, that's when I got an idea.

I reached down and grabbed hold of his sitar then pulled it away from him, it took me a little while, he had a tight grip on the thing. The second he was separated from his precious sitar he woke up straight away.

"Axel? What are you doing here?" he asked rubbing his eyes "wait why do you have my sitar!"

He looked more awake now and like he was going to fight me so I threw down the sitar for him after all I wasn't going to get anywhere with him if he was trying to attack me. Once he was standing and hugging his sitar once again I turned my back from him and walked away a little.

"What world did Saïx send Arexis to?"

"Who cares, I'm going back to sleep" he muttered

"Tell me or I will through that thing out of the window next time" I growled facing him

"I don't know, Agrabah I think" he yawned

That was enough for me, I opened a portal to Agrabah and left, I searched the entire city but hadn't found her anywhere so I went to the cave Roxas and I found one time but she wasn't there either, the only place left was the desert.

_"Of course he would send her there"_ I frowned walking out into the desert _"you better be alive when I find you"_


	5. Chapter 5

It was late, dark, cold and I had been searching for hours, I knew she had two missions so I was starting to think that maybe she just wasn't here. Just when I was about to leave I saw something in the distance, something that seemed to glow in the night so I walked up to it expecting some kind of object reflecting the moon but it was a girl wearing strange clothes, clothes that the princess from this world wears. I rolled her onto her back to see if she was still alive but I was shocked to see that it was Arexis.

"And of course she goes ahead and falls asleep in the freezing desert" I sighed

I tried to wake her up but she just wouldn't so I sat down near her with my back facing her and waited, after all it would be morning soon. I wasn't waiting for too long, I heard her moving behind me but then she pulled on my coat making me fall backwards.

"WHAO!" I shouted

I was cursing myself for sitting so close; I should have known this would happen. She didn't let go of my coat and she also lit a fire ball which my eyes couldn't handle, I had been in the dark for too long. I tried to sit back up but she was still holding onto my coat even as I pulled away so I stayed half up and half down.

"Will you let go of it already" I muttered

"Huh?... oh right" she chuckled letting go

I sat up straight keeping my back facing her, that light was to bright.

"Will you put that light out already" I grumbled at her

"Why?"

I didn't answer her, I didn't really know what to say but after a while the light went out.

"So why are you here anyway?"

"It's got nothing to do with you, in fact if I had a choice I wouldn't even be here but Xion kept going on about how she was worried about you so I was forced to find you"

I paused for a few seconds for her to say something, she normally always had something to say but this time it seemed she didn't so I continued.

"But when I finally found you, here you were sleeping in the middle of the desert, why are you out here anyway?"

"This is where Saïx sent me"

"To the middle of the desert?"

"Yeah, I was meant to find out new things then go to the colosseum to kill a heartless there then return to the castle"

"He sent you to kill the heartless? It's meant to be pretty big last one that showed up took Xion and Roxas to take it out"

"I'll be fine"

"Well then why are you sleeping here, and what happened to your coat?"

"There was a heartless here and it ripped it... I um found this laying around and well I didn't have anything else so I have borrowed it and I was sleeping here because I just wanted to take a brake"

"Well it's not safe to sleep in the desert, you should return to the castle to sleep"

"I can't" she sighed "Saïx told me not to return until I have finished both missions"

"Then why are you taking a break!" I shouted at her

The things she did always amazed me, I couldn't understand how she could be so easy going about these things.

"Like you even care! Like you said you're only here because of Xion so why don't you just leave and tell her I'm fine and that I might be back tomorrow"

"Might be?"

"Well who knows what tomorrow brings"

"The Colosseum huh..."

"Yeah"

"It will be morning soon" I said standing "let's go"

"What?"

"Get up already, I'm not going to keep the door open forever" I grumbled walking through the portal

I waited on the other side for a few minutes but she didn't seem to be following so I started to close the portal, that should get her moving. It worked to, just before it closed Arexis came jumping out, I expected her to land on her face or something but she managed to land on her feet in a crouch.

"What took you so long?"

She looked up at me with a glare but I just ignored it, turned with a yawn and started to walk away. She stood up then started to walk around, I watched her as she lit a fire ball and looked at the huge statues outside the colosseum, watching her like that it seemed like she was bathed in light. I made sure to keep my distance from her but to be close enough if a heartless decided to attack, after a while she stopped in front of the leader board and it looked like she was reading them.

"What you lookin at over there?" I called out

"Uhhh... well it's a leader board... nothing important at all"

"_There's obviously something there she doesn't want me to see"_ I thought with a smirk

"Yeah let me see" I said right behind her

I started to read the name but none caught my attention until I reached the last name there, it was Seria.

"Seria..."

I looked down at Arexis trying to think if they were the same person or not but the thought of the girl I once knew fighting just made me laugh.

"What's so funny?"

"Whoever this 'Seria' person is must be a real weakling" I laughed walking away

"_If it is her there's no way she will let me just walk away"_

"IDIOT!" she shouted

I heard the fireball coming at me and managed to dodge it just in time, I expected her to react but not try and burn me. I turned around and looked at her, she looked annoyed and since I never was too good with words I called forward my chakrams, if she really wanted to kill me then she could give it her best shot.

"So you want to fight huh? Well then, let's go"

"I wasn't looking for a fight but as long as your offering" she smirked bringing forward another fire ball

She threw multiple fireballs at me but I managed to dodge them all, I had to admit she was good and a few of them came pretty close to hitting me but still they were lacking power.

"Come on, where's your fighting spirit from yesterday huh? I can't believe you took out heartless with such weak magic"

She looked really angry now so I threw my weapons at her making sure she would be able to dodge them. She moved out of the way with ease then started to attack me again this time with more anger. We attacked each other for a while, me never hitting her and her... coming close to hitting me, after a while she made eye contact with me, she looked tired and hurt.

I threw my weapons at her again but she never moved out of the way, she fell down onto the ground. Her eyes closed as they got closer but I wasn't going to let them hit her, after all I never wanted to hurt her. I managed to grab them just in time, she opened her eyes and looked first at my chakrams then up at my face.

"Axel?"

"What do you think you're doing!" I shouted pulling away from her "I nearly hit you!"

"Wasn't that the point in fighting?" she asked smiling weakly

"What, you think I was actually trying? If I was trying you would be dead" I huffed making my weapons vanish

"Then why were you fighting me?"

"You obviously have some things to work out" I shrugged

She hung her head and I turned and started to walk away when I heard her muttering something.

"What was that?" I asked turning to face her

"I said, I HATE YOU!" she shouted lifting her head "you might not remember but I do, I remember hearing the news that heartless attacked your world so I raced there only to find you with someone entering a dark portal! I used to think that you were forced to go but now... now I know different, Lea"

"_So she does know"_

"How do you know that name?" I asked just to make sure

"My name is Seria" she said standing "when I was a child you helped me run away from some guards and when we were older we would see how long we could get away for, the last day... the last day I was with you is when you gave me this"

She pulled something from her wrist and threw it at me; I caught it in my hands then held it up looking at it. It was the charm bracelet I had given her before I became a nobody, on the last day I ever saw her.

"When you gave it to me it only had a crown charm on it but somehow I kept getting more and eventually I followed the charms hoping they would lead me to you... and they did"

I wasn't really listening to her anymore, I was thinking over what she just said, something didn't make sense; the only person that saw me leave in a portal was that girl in the dress.

"You were the girl? The one in the dress surrounded by heartless"

I half expected her and wanted her to say she wasn't but I already knew the answer before she even had a chance to tell me.

"Yes"

"I didn't know, I didn't know who you were" I confessed with a wave of guilt washing over me

"... I never told you"

"Told me what?" I huffed

"Were you the one that gave me the charms?"

"Yeah never knew you got them, thought you were dead. Every time I visited a new world I found a charm then left it in our meeting spot"

"That's where I found them all"

"You're missing two" I pointed out

"Huh?"

"The crown and lightning bolt"

"Lightning bolt?"

"Yeah the one from this world, thought you knew that, your name is on the leader board" I said with a snicker

"Hey, I have no idea what happened here so as far as I know I might have been attacked or something" she frowned

"You're an idiot"

"Me?" she asked surprise

"Don't tell me you lost them"

"No, I would have given it to someone to protect, that's what I did with the others. Belle had the rose one, Jack had the pumpkin, the cat from wonderland had the card, and the talking sand lion thing had the lamp so I'm guessing someone here has the lightning bolt... and I have a pretty good idea where the crown is"

"Why'd you give them away?"

I was a little annoyed that after all the work I went through to get them for her she went around giving them away.

"I don't know... all I know is they hold my memory or something, every time I get a new one I remember something about myself... I guess I knew that there was a chance I wouldn't remember anything so this was my way of making sure I didn't forget"

"Why would you want to remember anyway, memories are useless"

"Why do you want to forget?"

"It's no good remembering things" I frowned

"Because you don't have a heart?"

"Exactly"

"But what if... what if the reason why you're different is because your heart is still here?"

"Different? Only people that are different are Xion and Roxas"

"You are to, I heard others saying it, that you have changed since meeting Roxas, it's like you almost have a heart"

"_The others? Well I guess their right, being around Roxas... well he makes me feel like maybe I do have one"_

"My heart is long gone, why would I want one anyway"

"Huh? But isn't that why you're collecting hearts? So you can get one?"

"Yeah well... hey wait, how did you survive the heartless anyway and what was with that dress?"

"Well you saw me take out the heartless in Twilight Town so what's the difference? And that's what I used to wear... it seems like a lifetime ago now"

"Every time I saw ya you were wearing normal clothes, not some princess dress" I huffed

"Does it really matter?"

"_She is hiding something again"_

"What's important is that I have to get all my memories back and well I need help... will you help me Axe... Lea?

"Yeah fine" I grumbled

"Really?"

"On one condition, don't call me Lea"

I hated hearing that name; it was a name of a person who no longer exists. I watched as she nodded her head with a bright smiled but as she looked at me the smile slowly faded and turned into a look of guilt and then confusion. Her face always gave her away; she never was good at hiding things.

"Well we should get this mission over with"

"No, you can't, Saïx will know so you should go, I'll be fine"

"I'm not leaving you, like I said it took..."

"Both Xion and Roxas to take one of these down last time, I know but still we wouldn't want to upset Saïx"

I grumbled and muttered a few things that I'm glad she didn't seem to hear then made a portal and left but I didn't go far. I went to the top of the colosseum so I could keep an eye on her and help if she needed it. She entered the small building where I couldn't follow but she didn't stay in there too long.

When she came out she started to look around some more but it was more like she was killing time and she had a smirk on her face, one I didn't trust, it meant she was up to something. As morning broke she went back into the building and this time I went right next to the door so I could listen in, I wanted to know what she was up to.

"Hello? I want to enter the games"

"Get out of here kid"

"Kid? I'm 20 years old"

"Hey, don't I know you"

"You should, my name is Seria and I've come to get my title"

"You're the kid that ran out"

"_Ran out?"_ I thought with a small chuckle

"Ran out?... yeah well things are different now so are you going to let me join the games or what? I know they start today"

"First you need to pass a test"

"A test?"

I heard them leave the room and go out into the arena so I followed them making sure to stay out of sight.

"If you can destroy all of these barrels in 1 minute then you can join the games"

"Fine, that's easy"

"_There's no way she can do that"_ I decided after looking at the tower

The satyr started timing her but she didn't do anything, she just looked at the barrels. I was wondering why she wasn't doing anything but after a while I saw a small smirk, she lit all the barrels on fire and they went up in flames but now it was just a tower of fire. After the barrels were all on fire a wall of wind formed around the barrels extinguishing the flames leaving only a pile of dust behind.

"_It looks like she learnt some new tricks"_

"So... how'd I do?"

"You can enter the games" he muttered walking away "they start in an hour"

The satyr left and then Arexis started to jump around and laugh, she looked so happy, happier then I've seen her since she joined the organization. It wasn't the same when she was under orders from the organization, she seemed distant using her magic but out here she seemed happy, I didn't understand what the difference was.

"Well done"

I walked out from the other side of the arena where I was secretly watching the whole thing, she turned and faced me but she seemed surprised to see me there which made me smirk.

"I thought you left"

"Came back"

"I can see that... But why?"

"Thought you would need help by now" I said with a smirk

"You don't have any faith in me do you?"

"Sure I do, as the 20th place champion"

"Yeah well lots of people didn't even make it that far and besides I ran off so I would have won if I didn't"

"We will see about that"

I opened a portal on top of myself and went back into hiding so I could keep an eye on her, I still didn't like the feeling of her versing other people, who knows what kind of people enter these things.

"Come on kid gotta clear up and get ready"

"I'm not a kid" she muttered walking away

She left and went and sat outside under one of the statues, people started to slowly enter the arena and fill the seats then the fighters started to enter. There was one fighter that stopped next to Arexis and started talking to her, he looked strong and like he knew her but she seemed confused. I was too far away to hear the conversation but I think somehow she said something to annoy him, that didn't surprise me but it did worry me.

After a while the games started and Arexis went inside, I watched from the sidelines making sure to stay out of everyone's sight but close enough so I could jump in at any time. She looked surprised by all the people and things got worse when the guy from before walked out.

"_It's like she has the worse luck"_ I thought with a sigh

I didn't know who this guy was but it was obvious that he did not like her and that he was strong. He didn't waste time and was already attacking her but luckily she managed to block his attack but before she had time to recover he was charging again.

"_Come on get up before he kills you"_

"To much for you little girl? Maybe you should ran away like last time"

"Last time?"

"_Last time? Was he the reason she ran out last time?"_

She was thrown into the air again but she managed to land on her feet this time.

"This time I'm not letting you make a fool of me"

"_What is he talking about?"_

It looked like Arexis was about to say something but then she decided not to and instead started to fight him. They were equal but I could tell he wasn't using his full strength and that Arexis was starting to get tired but then by some miracle he feel to the ground making her the winner.

"And the winner is... Seria!"

She looked completely shocked by that.

"Hey kid" he called out "you're not half bad but I let you win"

"Let me win? Why would you do that?"

"Because your little lightning bolt is the prize for winning" he smirked

"How did you know?"

"Next time you run, don't leave things behind" he said walking away

I watched as she fought working her way up to the finales, she was doing surprisingly well, better than I thought she would. I noticed certain things that she did where different then what the organization taught, she didn't fight to kill and she never once really hurt anyone, it was more obvious now than ever before that she really didn't belong in the organization.


	6. Chapter 6

It was down to the last fight, I was relaxing and not really paying much attention, the way she was going she was sure to win. I didn't pay attention until I heard a loud roar and the people murmuring, I turned and looked towards the arena and saw a 3-headed dog walk into the arena.

"_They can't expect her to fight this?"_

She looked terrified by the very sight of him.

"_You have to calm down"_ I told her in my head

The chains were taken off and the dog started to stalk towards her, it leaped at her before she had a chance to do anything. I wondered why she didn't move out of its way but it was so huge she didn't have much chance, its paw landed on her pinning her to the ground then their heads started to move towards her. No one was doing anything but there was no way I was letting this thing kill her.

I called forward my weapons and got ready to attack, I didn't care is she saw me there or not, I wasn't letting anything harm her but before I had a chance to protect her the dog licked her. I dropped my weapons in shock as the dog continued to lick her, after getting over the shock I looked around and saw the same look of shock on everyone else's face in the arena. After a while she started to laugh and tried to push them off of her.

"Ok, get of me already" she laughed

The dog actually listened to her; they got of her then walked away a few steps and sat on the ground with their tongue's hanging out. Arexis stood up then patted her body; it was surprising to see that she was completely fine and didn't seem hurt at all.

"You weren't going to hurt me at all were you?" she asked with a smile

The middle head bent down and laid on the floor, Arexis started to walk slowly up to it then placed her hand on its head. I couldn't understand what she was doing at all and to make things even more confusing to me she started to pat its head then the other heads started to bend down near her.

"Come on, I only have two hands" she laughed

"_What is she doing?"_

There was a loud thump and they were on their back then one of the heads picked her up and threw her onto their stomach, she started to rub their stomach and their leg started to shake like crazy.

"And the winner is Seria" the goat man said walking out

"Huh?" she asked looking up

"Don't know how you did that kid, Cerberus doesn't listen to anyone"

She muttered something to herself but it was too quiet for me to hear. She was once again being licked by all three of the heads making her fall onto the floor, they stood up and went to lick her again but they suddenly stopped when someone called them.

"Get here now!" they shouted

"I guess you have to go... well goodbye"

She hugged them then they left the arena, while they were walking away I saw a small glint on the dog's collar and saw the lightning charm hanging there. I was confused, that dog had the charm so why didn't she grab it? But I just watched as the ceremony took place and waited until I had the chance to ask her. She looked so happy standing on the winner's platform; it was almost like she was glowing.

"Hey wait... Sephiroth said..." she started to say

"Gotta say kid, never expected you to win"

Everyone started to pile out of the building leaving Arexis on her own, once I made sure everyone was gone I came out of hiding and walked down the steps clapping, once she heard me she turned around to look at me, she didn't look too surprised to see me there.

"Well you won but still, I haven't seen any heartless" I called out

"Heartless?"

"You know, the reason why we're here"

"Oh right, yeah..."

"What's wrong with you" I huffed jumping down into the arena

"I still don't have my charm back" she sighed

"What you didn't grab it?"

"Huh?"

"Man you are clueless; it was hanging from the dog's neck"

"Cerberus had it? I didn't even see it"

"_She is hopeless"_

She looked up at me then started to run off towards where Cerberus left, I ran after her, knowing her she was going to get herself into trouble somehow.

"What did you run off like that for?" I asked running after her

"He went this way... but where did he go?"

She seemed a bit out of it, it reminded me of the times she passed out or started acting strange.

"Hey you ok?" I asked putting my hand on her shoulder

"Shh" she ordered me

I was going to say something to her but her eyes tightly closed and her face scrunched up a bit, like she was trying to remember something important so I stayed quiet and waited. I wasn't waiting for too long, her eyes snapped open and I would have sworn I saw a small flash of white light in her eyes but I passed it of as the light from the sun.

"Their underground"

"Underground?"

"_How does she know their underground?"_

"Yeah... we have to get down there somehow"

"Well how'd you get down there?"

"I followed them"

"Well this should work" I smirked making a portal appear

"How can you do that?" she asked

"Do what?"

"Make portals... I tried but I can't, it's just not possible for me"

"I don't know, I just do it" i shrugged "well come one then"

I walked thought the portal into the hidden world underground, I waited for her to follow me through then got rid of the portal and faced her.

"Well, now where?"

"I don't know..." she admitted

I looked around us and saw some foot prints behind us; I walked over to them then called out to Arexis.

"This way"

She turned around and looked at me and started to walk towards me.

"How do you know?"

"Because I'm smart"

She kept pestering me about how I knew but I just smirked at her, if she paid attention to her surroundings she would have figured it out to. After a while she stopped asking me and followed quietly next to me, we finally reached a large cage where the dog was being kept.

"Hey boy" she whispered leaning on the bars

Their heads lifted one by one and turned to face her, once they saw her their tail wagged and they stood up walking towards her.

"Why are you guys locked up?" she asked patting their heads

"Just grab the charm already" I hissed

"Think I could take this?" she asked lightly touching the charm

They lifted her heads and she reached out and took the charm off their collar then connected it to her bracelet. Once that was done I grabbed hold of her arm and dragged her away, I didn't want their owner finding us.

"I think we should have helped them"

"Help? How do you know that wasn't their home?"

"... but they were locked up" she sighed "no one should have to live in a cage"

She lifted her head then pulled out of my grasp and ran full sprint back to the cage; I let out a frustrated groan and went after her. I reached her in time to see her melting the bars but the dog didn't seem too concerned by it, they stayed right where they were.

"Don't tell me you want to stay here? I'll take you with me, I live somewhere far away from here and you can come with me" she told them

I heard noise in the background and by the reaction the dog hand I guessed it was their owner, she was being carried off by the dog and I had a pretty good idea where they were heading so I opened up a portal and went back to where we came in.

"This is their home" I explained walking out of a portal "it may seem strange to you but this is where they belong"

"... So this is goodbye?"

They nudged her gently so she didn't fall over then ran of back towards their cage.

"We should leave"

"... Axel would you ever leave the organization?"

"Why would you ask a thing like that, to leave them would mean getting turned into a dusks, or being terminated"

"But what if that wasn't the case, would you leave?"

"I don't have anywhere else to go, that's my home now" I shrugged

"Your home..."

"Come on, let's go"

I opened up another portal to the surface and walked through it, I made sure to take her directly to where she would be able to get back to the castle.

"I'll see you when you get back"

"Ok" she smiled weakly at me

I didn't like that look, she had a habit of not doing what she was told but even so I walked through the portal and went back to my room. I gave it a while before leaving so the others wouldn't get suspicious even though Saïx no doubtedly already knew. I walked down the hall and didn't run into a single person, it was getting late so most would be out on missions or sitting in the mission room, I walked into the room and didn't see Arexis anywhere.

"_Why didn't she return?"_

"Axel, it's about time you joined us" Saïx said with a smirk

"What? Demyx can sleep in all day and I can't wake up a few hours late?"

"I have a mission for you"

"Yeah sure" I sighed

I was actually really tired, I had been up half the night but still it's not like I could expect Saïx to give me a day off. My mission was fairly easy and I finished it pretty quickly so I decided to return to the colosseum and find out what happened to Arexis. I walked out near where I left her but she wasn't anywhere in sight, I walked around looking for any signs to where she went but I couldn't find anything.

I was going to leave and head back to the castle to see if she had finally returned when I saw something bright up in the distance. I looked up and saw a bright light and someone standing next to it, even though I couldn't see very well from down here I knew it was Arexis. She walked into the light then the light was gone, I ran up to the hill but it was too late, I had no way of finding out where she went, what that light was or if she would ever return.

I had no choice but to eventually leave and head back to the castle, once I returned I found out that a meeting was being held, an exclusive one just for Saïx and Xemnas.

"What kind of meeting?"

"How would I know that, I only got told to tell others once they returned" Luxord sighed sitting down "oh and anyone who bothers them will be turned into a dusk"

"Well aren't you obedient" I muttered leaving the room

Even though Luxord warned me I still went to the mission room, I just didn't go inside; there was no rule against waiting outside after all.

"There has been no sign of her" Saïx said

"Is she dead?"

"No I don't believe so, it's like she just vanished"

"_Their talking about Arexis?"_

"Where was she meant to be last?"

"The colosseum, I sent Luxord there once Axel returned but there was no sign of her, he looked around but he couldn't see her anywhere"

"_So they did know"_

"Is it possible she made contact with the intruder?"

"That is always a possibility but I get the feeling she will be back"

I could almost see the smirk on Saïx's face as he said that, it's like he knew she would come back but I wasn't so sure, that light she walked into, it didn't seem like there was any coming back from that. After that I decided it was best to leave, it sounded like they were nearly finished and I didn't want to be caught, I probably wouldn't get turned into a dusk but still I didn't want to be given extra work.

I went back to the mission room and sat down in one of the chairs with a sigh.

"Hey Axel, is everything ok?" Roxas asked coming up next to me

"Yeah I'm fine"

"Have you seen Arexis? I have been hearing things... that she left"

"Don't worry she will come back... actually there is something you can help me with"

"What's that?"

I stood up and opened a portal, there were still a few people in the room and I didn't want to raise suspicion.

"I need you to get me an ice-cream" I laughed walking through the portal

The portal didn't take us to Twilight Town but instead to Wonderland, Arexis mentioned a cat here that gave her a charm and I knew Roxas had met the cat before so I was hoping he could find it so I could talk to it.

"Hey this isn't Twilight Town" Roxas pointed out behind me

"I know, I need you to find the cat here, he knows Arexis and I want to find out what he knows exactly"

"Why? Is she in trouble?"

"I hope not" I muttered quietly to myself

We walked around for a while but never came across any cats or any people at all really; there weren't even any of them talking cards around, the whole place seemed empty.

"That's strange, I wonder where everyone is"

"The queen might still have them looking around for the heartless"

"Who else do you know? Have you met any other people from other worlds?"

"Not really, I met a genie and a flying carpet in Agrabah, that fairy in never land ummm oh and this half goat man at the colosseum, I think that's all"

"Wait you met him? The satyr that organizes the games?"

"Yeah"

"Take me to him"

"Why?"

"Just do it" I frowned

He opened a portal and we walked through, from what I heard at the colosseum he knew her from before so maybe he would be able to help me sort some things out.

"He is normally in there" Roxas pointed to the small building

Roxas started walking towards the building so I followed, he went in first and before I walked in I took a quick glance behind me hoping that maybe Arexis would be there.

"Hey kid you missed the games"

"Games?"

"You should have been there; there was this girl... who's that?"

"This is my friend Axel"

"So another wanna be hero?"

"I'm not here to become a hero; I have some questions for you. How much do you know about the girl who won't the games?"

"Wait Axel... she mentioned something about an Axel"

"She did?"

"Yeah something about you waiting for her"

"So you saw her after the games?"

"yeah, I was training Herc and some of the rock he smashed flew out of the arena and hit her in the head, knocked her clean out but when she woke up she ran off saying you were waiting"

"_That's why she didn't return... But why would she be walking into that light?"_

I asked him a few more questions but he didn't really know anything, he never saw her leave and he had no idea where she was going but at least now I knew why she didn't follow me.

"Come on Roxas we should head back, it's getting late and Xion is probably waiting for us"

"Right"

We left the colosseum and headed towards Twilight town, while we were walking to get our ice-creams we saw Demyx, it was strange to see him out, he rarely left the castle.

"Hey Demyx, what are you doing here?" Roxas called out to him

He jumped and turned slowly around to face us, something about his expression told me he wasn't meant to be here or we weren't meant to find out.

"Ahh you know, just on a mission"

"Oh yeah what kind of mission" I asked him

"Well... ok fine you caught me! I was on a mission but I got tired so I decided to sneak away here for a quick nap" he confessed "please don't tell Saïx"

"What kind of mission were you on?" Roxas asked him

"I was meant to take out a heartless but it sounded big so I thought I would need to get some rest first... hey you don't think you two could take care of it for me? I'll give you something in return"

"No way, I'm not doing your work for you" I huffed

"Not even if you get a month of free ice-cream?"

"I'm listening"

"If you go take out this heartless I will pay for your ice-creams for a whole month, what do you say?"

"Deal, come Roxas lets go"

"The heartless is at never land"

I opened up a portal and walked through; ice-cream could wait a few minutes, after all how long could this take with Roxas and I working together?


	7. Choices

"Doesn't your little friend normally come to meet you?" I asked as we walked around

"Yeah she does... maybe the heartless Demyx was talking about got her?"

"Well I haven't heard any heartless yet, I'm starting to think it was all Demyx's imagination" I grumbled kicking some rock

We walked around some more until we heard a loud roar in the distance, we ran towards the noise but it looked to be coming from a large skull shape rock that was in the middle of the ocean.

"Any ideas?" I asked

"If only we could fly" Roxas sighed

"Well the heartless seems like it would be trapped there so why don't we just leave it alone?"

"You want to leave it?"

"Why not? It doesn't look like it can get anywhere" I shrugged crossing my arms behind my head

I closed my eyes and went to turn around when I heard a portal opening behind me, I turned around opening my eyes and saw Roxas about ready to walk into it.

"I'm going to check it out, are you coming?"

I thought about it for a few seconds, tossing up whether to go back and relax or go search the skull cave. After a little while I sighed and decided to go with him, after all it was a month of free ice-cream at stake here.

We came out just outside the cave; there was another roar only this time it didn't sound like a heartless it sounded more like some kids messing around.

"Hey look, it's that guy in the red coat"

I peered around the rocks and looked into the cave, sure enough that guy was there, he seemed to be everywhere we went. He started shouting at someone I couldn't see, someone call Peter Pan but he never showed himself once.

"_What kind of person hides in the shadows and doesn't fight?"_ I asked myself

Roxas and I stayed hidden and watched as everything unfolded; it turned out this Peter Pan was just a kid playing a prank. I slightly envied that kid being able to play around like that but if he was the one making all the noises then that meant there never was a heartless here in the first place, we were sent on a wild goose chase.

I hated these kinds of missions, they were just time wasters which is probably why Demyx was sent on it to start off with then I let him talk me into doing his work but at least I would get something out of it. We left never land and headed back to the organization to find Demyx but he wasn't there so we headed to Twilight Town but couldn't see him there either so I was forced to buy my own ice-cream.

"Do you think Xion is coming today?" Roxas asked staring at his half-eaten ice-cream

"Dunno" I shrugged throwing my stick away

"Hey Axel... why did you want me to introduce you to those people?"

"I knew Arexis knew them and thought maybe she told them where she was going" I admitted

"So she isn't coming back?"

"Of course she will, even if I have to drag her back here myself"

"The other members don't like her very much... they say she isn't even part of the organization and that she isn't even really a nobody"

"Shouldn't believe what those guys tell you, you know what I think? I think they just don't like the fact that she doesn't listen to them" I laughed

Things were quiet between us and it was getting late so I stood up stretching and decided it was time to head back to the castle, Roxas said that he was going to wait a little longer for Xion to show up so I left on my own. Once I entered the castle there was some commotion going on, everyone seemed unusually happy and that worried me.

"Hey Xigbar what's going on?"

"You missed the show; Demyx was dragged through here to the meeting room in nothing but is pants and gloves. Saïx and Xemnas are in there now yelling at him"

"_Serves him right"_ I thought with a smirk

"His gloves and pants? What happened to the rest of his stuff?"

"Dunno, he was found sleeping in Twilight Town when he was meant to be on a mission now I have to go finish his work"

I did think about telling Xigbar it was a dead end but he has never helped me out so I let him go then headed towards the meeting room where most everyone else was listening in. once the doors began to open everyone scattered to their separate rooms but I just stood in the hallway confused by everything, somehow I always missed the fun things.

Demyx walked out of the meeting room with the sorriest looking expression on his face I had ever seen, I felt a little bad for the guy but he still owed me for doing his work.

"Nice look" I smirked leaning against a wall

"What did you do with my clothes!" he shouted at me

"Me?" I asked clueless

"Don't try to play dumb, I may have been asleep but I remember seeing red hair and you're the only one I know who has red hair!"

"Sorry to brake it to you but I was out on your stupid mission remember, couldn't have been me"

"_Red hair... he couldn't mean Arexis?"_

"Besides you're the dumb one that fell asleep" I continued to point out

"Thanks to you I have actual work to do now starting tomorrow!"

"It will do you good, doing some real work for once" I smirked walking away from him

"I know it was you!" he called out to me

"If it was I would have taken your pants as well!" I shouted back

The second I was in my room I opened up a portal and headed to Twilight Town, if Demyx was napping there then that means Arexis had to be there. I started my search looking first around all the possible places Demyx's could have fallen asleep and then at all the hiding places I knew of but by the time it was dark I still hadn't found her.

"_If I only stayed for a little bit longer I probably would have seen her... maybe she went back to the organization"_

I was beyond the point of caring about her personal space and opened a portal directly into her room, before I even had a chance to look around I knew it was empty, it just had that empty cold feeling to it so I sat down on her bed with a sigh.

"What do I care if she returns anyway" I grumbled to myself "it's good that she's gone, now maybe I can get some work done"

I left her room and walked around the castle grumbling and muttering to myself when Saïx approached me.

"Have a fight with Arexis already?" he huffed

"What are you talking about?" I glared "I have no idea where she is"

"You haven't seen her yet?"

"What part of 'I don't know where she is' do you not get"

"So she hasn't even bothered to tell you that she is back, well then that just shows who your real friends are"

"She's back?" I asked shocked

"Returned not 10 minutes ago"

Without another word I turned my back on Saïx and walked back to her room, now that I knew she was back I didn't just barge in but knocked instead. There was no reply so I slowly opened her door but that same empty coldness was there.

"Was Saïx lying?" I asked myself "no, he has no reason to lie..."

I thought about it for a while, other than her room I couldn't think of many other places she would be.

"Unless..." I sighed "she's in my room"

I walked to my room and opened the door and sure enough I could see someone sleeping on my bed. I walked into my room and towards her sleeping figure while looking down at her I folded my arms and glared down at her.

"Hey you wake up" I muttered

She didn't move or make any sound so I reached down and poked her shoulder a little.

"Get out of my bed, come on"

I poked her shoulder harder forcing her to roll over but as she did I was sent flying, I shouted as I got pushed back into my wall. I landed on the ground banging my head; somehow these things kept happening to me when I was around her. I was rubbing my head when she started to wake up; she looked slightly panicked once she saw me and rushed over to my side.

"I'm so sorry"

"What was that for?" I muttered

"Oh well... automatic reflex?"

I stood up and looked down at her grumbling to myself then walked away a little with a sigh, I was happy she was ok.

"What are you doing here anyway?"

"I was waiting for you... didn't Xion give you my message?"

"Haven't seen her"

"Weren't you meant to meet her and Roxas?"

"I was looking for you, you never followed me"

"I'm sorry..."

"What happened?"

"Well I... well Riku approached me and we were going to fight but then I got hit on head by a rock and when I woke up I had no idea where I was and I couldn't find my way back but then I ended up in Twilight Town where I found Xion who was waiting for you and Roxas and she bought me back here but then she left so I asked her to tell you that I wanted to talk to you and then I started getting sleepy so I decided to wait for you here" she blurted out

She took a few deep breaths and I tried to wrap my head around everything she just said, I knew about the rock hitting her but what I really wanted to know is where she has been between now and when she left but she seemed to miss all that out completely.

"Wait... so who is Riku?"

"... Uhhh... a friend... kind of... maybe... I don't know, I met him once before, he was the one that warned me about portals"

"So what did you want to talk to me about? Couldn't it wait till morning?" I asked sitting on his bed

"No it can't" she answered "Axel what I'm about to tell you can never leave this room"

"Ok..."

She was starting to worry me a little, I don't think I had ever seen her so serious, she walked over and stood in front of me and told me what really happened when she left the colosseum. I wanted to stop her many times during her explanation but I couldn't, even though it all sounded unbelievable I wanted it to be true. She passed back and forward explaining things to me but what she said, well some of it made no sense that's when she stopped and looked at me with that serious face of hers and told me my heart still existed and that she had hers back.

"So you're telling me you have a heart now?"

"You don't believe me?"

"Why would you be here if you had a heart, are you sure you didn't dream it all?"

She groaned then walked up to me, grabbed my hand and placed it over where her heart should be, I was freaking out a little being so close to her but then I felt the gentle steady beat of a heart.

"You were telling the truth?"

"Yeah... and there's more... Axel I can give you back your heart... that's if you want it"

"My heart?"

"I've kept it safe for you, I can give it back then you won't be a nobody anymore but that also means you wouldn't belong here anymore... you would have to leave your friends... I'm not going to force you; it's completely your choice"

"My heart... can't I think about for a bit?"

"_There's no way this is all real, I must have knocked my head when she attacked me!"_

"... You can but I can't stay here, sooner or later someone else will find out and I will be considered an imposter and I won't be able to return"

"Where will you go?"

"Home I think" she smiled

"How will I find you?"

"... I know, we can go to our old meeting place, when you have made a decision go there"

"But..."

"Take as long as you need... I'll wait for you ok" she smiled "I have to go now"

I watched as she moved her hand out in front of her and a bright light appeared the same bright light I first saw her walk into.

"Oh right" she giggled "I never told you how I got around did I?... well I guess you know now"

She walked into the light but just before it disappeared I heard her calling out goodbye to me, once she left I fell down onto my bed, this was all too complicated for me. If what she said was true then that meant there was a world out there that hadn't been touched by heartless, a world made out of light, if that was even possible.

The next morning i woke up and went looking around for answers, I looked around for a world made of light but couldn't find anything that said it was possible but there also wasn't anything that said it wasn't possible in other words I was getting nowhere. After searching for a few days I still found nothing but I was starting to draw the attention of the other members until I was finally called to a meeting with Saïx and Xemnas.

"What is it you are searching for?" Saïx asked me

"Who says I'm searching for anything?"

"We know you have been searching for something only we don't know what but I have a good feeling it has something to do with that girl"

I scoffed at him and he raised his brow.

"Find something amusing?"

"Just that word 'feeling' we don't have hearts remember, how are we supposed to 'feel' anything?"

"Do you know where she is?" Xemnas butted in

"No"

"It's very important that we get her back"

"Why?"

"Let's just say she might be handy to have around"

"Because she controls the light?" I shouted

I was getting fed up with their games and wanted straight answers for once.

"So you know?"

I watched as Saïx and Xemnas smirked at each other, they knew from the start, this whole time they knew and this was just some scheme of theirs.

"How is it possible? She can't be a princess of light there are only 7 of them"

"She isn't a princess of light; in fact she isn't even human"

"What?"

"Many years ago before Radiant Garden was over taken by heartless there was one researcher whose mission in life was to bring out the darkness in people's hearts thus creating heartless and nobodies but there was a side effect. The subject had light in their heart to so when the darkness came forward the light was sent away flying off into the heavens, it touched a nearby world and since then that world has been protected by the light, unreachable to heartless and nobodies" Xemnas explained "I believe she is in fact that spark of light that has taken a human form, a nobody made of light that has grown and learnt like any other human would"

"That still doesn't tell me why you want her"

"She is light in human form, she has the power to walk in and out of the light something we cannot do, if we can harness that power then we would be unstoppable"

"So you wanted to make another puppet and after this one is working out so well" I smirked at them "well it doesn't matter now, she has her heart back and went to go live on her world again so you will never get your hands on her now"

They looked a little surprised at that, whatever they thought would happen and what plans they had just by me saying that one sentence everything was ruined to them. I had my answers and there was nothing keeping me here, I had thought about it over and over again repeating her question in my head over and over until I finally decided.

She was offering me everything I wanted, my heart back and if I had my heart back then I would be free from this organization but just when I was about to leave everything got messed up again. Roxas started to get weaker and weaker while Xion got stronger, then Xion started running of with the intruder and I had to keep bringing her back.

It had been over a month before things started to settle down, Xion was gone, Roxas was gone, everything that had been keeping me here was gone so I left. I headed to Hallow Bastion and towards our meeting place, I was slightly worried, I had taken so long so what if she had given up hope.

I heard the sound of lightning then I saw lightning coming right at me, I dodged it and traced it back to Arexis, she was trying to summon lightning but she wasn't very good at controlling it.

"Learnt some new tricks I see"

She turned around and ran towards me giving me a hug.

"Hey, what's all this about huh?" I asked trying to pry her away

"I just missed you" she smiled pulling herself away

"Sorry I took so long..."

"You have to see what I can do now, ready, you stay right there"

She moved a meter or so away from me then made an ice sculpture of a star.

"It's called a paopu fruit, we don't get them here, it only grows on a world called Destiny Islands... if you share this with someone your destines become intertwined and you remain a part of each other's lives forever"

"That's... nice"

"Axel, I'm happy you showed up" she smiled sitting down "I'll admit that I was starting to get a little worried... that you would never come, but you're here now so it's all ok right?"

"Everything got a little... crazy after you left, you missed all the drama"

"I know... I went to Twilight Town not long ago and saw Roxas there, I tried to approach him but he didn't remember me at all. After that I started searching for answers and I found a girl, Naminé, she told me everything I needed to know"

"Heh, so you know?"

"Yeah... I'm sorry about Roxas... I know he was your friend"

"He's still around" I shrugged

"Axel... have you decided?"

I nodded my head "Take me to it"

"What?"

"Take me to my heart"

"You mean... you're coming back with me? You're going to stay with me?"

"Sure, got nowhere else to stay" I joked

She jumped up and hugged me again; I looked down at her and saw a huge smile on her face.

"What is with you and the hugging?"

"I just can't help it, whenever I thought of you all I could think of was 'I wish I could hold him now that I can feel' and now I can"

"Huh, you're such a girl" I laughed

She frowned and moved away from him "just remember what 'girl' holds your heart" she smirked

"Ok I get the hint, well let's go already"

"Right" she nodded

She made the light appear in front of us and was about to walk through when she stopped, I guess she noticed I was hesitating.

"Is something wrong?"

"You sure this thing won't..."

"Trust me Axel, just like I trusted you" she smiled holding out her hand

I huffed and walked right past her but just before I walked into the light I felt her hand grab hold of mine then pulled me behind her. We ended up in some kind of room, I couldn't be too sure everything was spinning.

"Hey... you ok?"

"Yeah... fine... why is the room spinning?"

I heard her giggling then some things getting moved around but I was still a little out of it.

"Come on this way"

I saw her crawl through a hole so I tried to follow her but everything was still spinning a little so it made things harder.

"So where's my heart?" I asked standing up straight

"Hey watch out for..."

It was too late, I had already stepped on a rug that was covering up some kind of hole and I fell right through.

"Are you ok down there?"

"Why is there a hole in your floor" I muttered

"Well... I was going to fix it but I just never got around to it" she giggled "watch out I'm coming down"

I moved out of the way and waited for her to jump down; once she was down she lit a fire ball and led me down a hallway. We came to a larger room that had something placed in the middle, she walked up to it and stood behind it, I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

"That's it?" I asked looking at it

"It? What were you expecting?" she giggled

"And you're sure you can give it back?"

"I'm sure, I gave beast back his heart remember"

"Well then, what do I have to do?"

"Just... stand there"

The fire ball faded away and she lifted the glass that was covering the heart, she started to reach out towards my heart so I warned her to be careful with it. Every time she touched it or moved it a little I told her to be careful, it looked like she was getting a little annoyed at me but she never once said anything.

After a little bit of holding onto my heart she let it go and it floated towards me. There was a blinding light as it spun around my body before darting into my chest, I fell to the ground, it was a weird feeling having a heart again, having all these emotions inside of me.

"What's wrong?" she called out holding my shoulders

"My chest... it hurts"

"What kind of hurt?"

"Like there is something pounding inside of it"

"Pounding inside of it..."

She sounded a bit confused then she started to laugh.

"That's your heart Axel, that's what it does"

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure come on, it's not that bad"

"I changed my mind, take it away" I gasped lying flat on the ground

"If you're going to die mind waiting until were out of here so I don't have to carry you?" she asked nudging me with her foot

"I'm not going to make it, I think you have to carry me" I said throwing my hands out to the side

The pain and overwhelming feeling from my heart had died down now so I was just playing with her, I don't know why but it felt nice messing around with her like this but I guess that's what happens when you have a heart.

"Well ok then, if you insist"

I saw a bright light then I fell through it and landed on a hard floor back in the bedroom, I was lying face down on the floor when I felt her stepping on my back.

"Get of me" I grumbled into the floor

"What was that? I can't hear dead people"

I turned over making her fall to the floor and glared at her but all she did was laugh, it made me smile to see her laughing, to see her happy. I knew I could never really repay her for giving me back my heart but there was one thing I could do for a start.

"Hey Are...

"It's Seria here and your Lea again right?"

"Going to take some time getting used to that" I sighed

"Don't worry, you will"

"If you say so. Anyway, thankyou... Seria"

**THE END**

* * *

><p><strong>AN - If you want to know more about how Arexis looks then go to my profile, i have a link there for her different looks.  
>I have also written this story in Arexis's POV so check out my profile if you want to read that, its called 'No. XV' yeah i know... not a very good name for it lol.<strong>

**Also thankyou to everyone who has commented on this story, it means so much to me to hear from you all ^-^**


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